Rule #5: Take A Stand

You don’t have to be a superhero to take a stand. You don’t need special powers or to inherit a family fortune, you just need the will to act. Every day we are surrounded by injustice: whispered insults and jokes about people we know, lack of common courtesy, ill treatment of loved ones. Those are only a few examples. But what marks a gentleman apart from other men is that he takes a stand for what is right, no matter the danger to himself (whether it be danger to his esteem, how he is viewed by peers, or even his life).

Take the example of Oskar Schindler, who you may know better as the star character in the movie Schindler’s List. Although a member of the Nazi Party during WWII, Schindler became disenfranchised with the regime by its treatment of the Jewish people, and took action to rescue more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in Nazi death camps. Now this is an extreme example, one of a man who risked death and torture by taking a stand for what was right.

But when I say a gentleman should take a stand, I mean for the little things as well. The things that happen on a daily basis. When you hear a friend saying something unfair about another, say something. When you see a cashier being treated rudely, step forward. There are times for silence, but there are also times for a voice to be heard. A gentleman’s duty is to take a stand and make his voice heard even when it’s uncomfortable or scary. To act in spite of fear, and for what is right – that marks a true gentleman.